Tonight I'm heading back to the state of Colorado for another Anniversary brew from Avery Brewing. This will be my second Avery Anniversary brew review, the first being their
Seventeen dry-hopped black lager. This is a dry-hopped Rye Saison Ale, brewed with a potent blend of 5 different belgian yeast strains and a boatload of rye. And of course, it wouldn't be an Avery beer if it wasn't dry-hopped into oblivion! It registers 8.12% alcohol and 40 IBUs, bottled and only available in the Summer 2011.
The label on this bottle says it was bottled in May 2011. Very nice label, with some barley grains in the background and the foil cap-cover typical of Avery. The beer is a hazy dark copper (penny) color, with a hefty amount of off-white foam that leaves some lacing behind after quickly receding. The aroma is a fusion of rye and belgian yeast funk. Also some lemongrass, mixed in with other faint fruit juices. The first drink confirms what I was afraid of.....I'm serving this a little warmer than usual, it was hot out today and the bottle only had about 1.5 hours in the fridge. It's probably at 50+ degrees right now, probably warmer than the intended serving temperature. But that doesn't seem to hurt things too much. Starts off with a helping of rye malts that leaves a hint of spiciness and dryness in it's wake. Sweetness reigns supreme in the middle, with a chewy caramelly sugaryness. Then comes a farmhouse funk, the yeast comes through with notes of fruityness combined with an earthy lemongrass citrus. Warm alcohol greases the skids on the finish, nothing hot or out of place, but definitely noticeable (even more so with the beer being this warm). The body is quite syrupy, and delivers that big sugar sweetness (a little too) efficiently.
Overall Rating: This beer is tough to figure out. After some reflection and some more drinks, I think there is too much sweetness and not enough rye spice to reign it in. Not a bad beer, but the different components don't play nice together and leave me feeling like it's just slightly out of balance. Hate to say it, but this falls towards the bottom of Avery list. C
No comments:
Post a Comment